WeView: God of War: Ascension

Did the game ascend to new heights?

Blair Inglis, 2 years ago, 18 comments.

God of War: Ascension took Sony’s franchise a step backwards chronologically, acting as a prequel to the 2005 original, though it also felt like a step backwards for the series in terms of gameplay and narrative too, feeling like an unnecessary story which we had already heard most of in every other game.

I’m still adamant that it would’ve worked much better as a PlayStation Vita title, though their need to outdo God of War 3 graphically and the addition of multiplayer clearly prevented them from doing so, meaning the single player product felt not only as if it was set before the original God of War, but that it was made before the first game in the series in terms of the narrative.

There were some lovely set-pieces and boss fights however, the final of which was a blast and felt more like an actual development of the franchise than anything else in the game. The addition of multiplayer, too, well-balanced and a joy to play saved the game from being a mediocre title, in my opinion.

Alex gave it an 8/10 in his review, concluding that it “doesn’t feel as relevant as the PSP games, nor as necessary” but that the fact that it’s a God of War title might be “more than enough” for some.

When it concludes, with the first God of War all set up storywise, Kratos finally gains his anger. Before then, it’s all illusion and confusion which quickly grows tiring, the same rug being pulled at least once too many times. It’s a fun ride – there are some lovely set pieces – but it’s largely a ride to a conclusion we already know and without enough focus to make it an unforgettable experience. Kratos’ backstory is fleshed out, his motivations explained and the rest of the series built on solid foundations, but is this really an essential slice of the story?

Alex hits the nail right on the head, although he gives much more praise to the game than I would; I don’t think that the set-pieces and fluid gameplay can excuse this disappointing and ultimately unnecessary entry into the series.

It sits at 80 on Metacritic, which is a bit lower than the other instalments but still a great score; perhaps my judgement is unfair due to my love of the previous games – I’m sure if I had played this before the othersI would have enjoyed it more, but it just doesn’t live up to what we’ve seen in the past.

But it’s not up to me or Alex now, it’s up to you to decide Ascension’s fate: did you feel as though it was a worthy God of War game, or a pointless prequel?

Simply drop a comment below with your thoughts on the game and we’ll collate all of them into a WeView Verdict article on Monday. You’ve got a good chance to be included if you get your comment in by Sunday afternoon and put a Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It rating on the end.

Such a forced entry to the series. Adds nothing to the God of War formula. Looks worse than GOW3 and features some terribly frustrating camera angles. £39.99 completely wasted. Get God of War 2 and 3 instead. AVOID

The combat is as tight as you’d expect from a God of War game but the motivation to drive forward just isn’t compelling enough. Previous games just felt like they gave more purpose to fight through waves of enemies and the story didn’t flow that well. The back and forth narrative just didn’t gel with me and despite some superb set pieces it still felt like a set back, especially from the epic God of War 3.

Haven’t played the multiplayer as I only rented it so the above is just for the single player offering.

Haters gonna hate! But this is ultimately the tightest god of war in terms of combat, beautiful graphics and still ups the ante with regards to the staple boss battles (including the grandest intro boss battle too!)

Furthermore more, we finally get to understand the true reasons for Kratos rage. After all the complaints from people about why Kratos is angry, I feel Santa Monica finally provided justification for his rage.

It has the best graphics of any GoW, the combat system has been tweaked to be even better and the boss fights/set pieces are still as memorable. The story may not be as memorable (as it’s been told before in different ways) but the gameplay is still as good, if not better, as previous GoW’s so what is there not to like?

Not to mention the infamous “Trials of Archimedes” and the hardcore difficulty level that old school gamers should enjoy.

Considering I only played this a month ago, and can’t even remember what the last boss was, doesn’t bode well.

What I do remember are the game breaking camera angles, more concerned with showing off some big set piece instead of allowing you to see what you are doing. Tricky the the middle of a heated battle.

The whole thing just feels like it is going through the motions, lacking any of the soul the original games had. Like a cheap hooker, rent it for the evening, squeeze out whatever cheap jollies you can from it’s withered frame and bury it in a landfill the next day.

I felt it gave personality and purpose back to Kratos other than anger and hate. I felt more inclined to complete it because of this and the inclusion of another “good guy” was also a breath of fresh air.

I loved the little tweaks to gameplay and design which were more than enough to freshen things up as we’ve had 5 games of the same mechanics.

Yes, there are some extremely annoying camera fly aways and positioning but on the whole I didn’t find it so annoying that I hated the game.

GoW has always lead the way in terms of level design and scale, in my opinion, and Ascension, for me, is the best of the best. The sheer size of the environments are amazing and exciting to play.

The boss battle isn’t overly difficult but the game (especially on Titan) was, overall, very challenging and rewarding.

I’ll agree that it wasn’t necessary to create this game but they did, and, as a massive fan, I think they did the franchise justice and I loved how they managed to still include lots of mythology that hasn’t already been covered.

I haven’t picked it up yet. I was looking forward to it and hoping it would be another spectacle along the lines of GOW III and when i heard that wasn’t the case it just dropped off my radar. I can see views are quite mixed so i’ll wait and see how the results go.

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